We're Screwed!
by Miss Hanmyo
Summary: an old woman curses cute girls, and handsome guys becuase of her past, mariah, kai and ray are all cursed, as well as some others. but will this curse bring ppl together? KxMxRwill be updating soon, back now!
1. Mariahs Change!

AuthorsNote:  
  
Meh, I had to do another Kai+Mariah based fic, because I wasn't satisfied, and I felt the need to emphasise their possible romance! But don't get me wrong, there are many Mariah pairings, Kai is just a possibility.  
  
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!  
  
Fanfic members: nyah?....weirdo! _  
  
As I said in the summary, this is influenced by Ranma ½ ..please enjoy! But this 1st chap, is Mariah's story, the next one will be ray, or something.  
  
"He comes back in three days.. Ray.I know you still love me. You even kept my biggest secret from the other breakers. I knew I could trust you..just like you can always trust me to keep your secret."  
  
(Mariah's past):  
  
A small pink haired little girl ran through the thick forest, her 3 best friends chasing her in a game of tag. She kept running without realising she'd lost her friends in her dust. Yet continued to run.  
  
"Hey Ray, you circle around, she's too fast so were gonna have to do a sneak attach!" lee instructed.  
  
"You got it!" he affirmed.  
  
Mariah's pace slowed as she realised that she was most likely close to the centre of the forest. She then felt quite nervous as she remembered what her friend, lee had told her once.  
  
(Lee's tale):  
  
'It's said, that somewhere in the centre of the forest lies a small cottage where a supposed witch was exiled from the white tiger village, apparently she caught her lover with another, more beautiful woman, and cursed the man and woman by making him spend eternal life as a tree turning the woman into an egg and boiled her. She herself learned to despise pretty girls and handsome men, because they reminded her of her fiancée, and the girl he was having an affair with. Therefore, she vowed to curse every one of them who came into her cottage.  
  
Mariah: very funny Lee, now knock-it-off!  
  
(End Lee's tale)  
  
Mariah felt her heart jump for a second.  
  
'Lee was kidding, right?' she thought as she slowed down, she was now completely out of breath. And her friends had disappeared.  
  
"Oh deary me, a young pretty little girl, all alone." Said a withered voice. Mariah turned to see an old woman, she was small, and looked very nice.  
  
"You look tired my dear, why don't you come inside my house for a drink, eh?" the woman smiled. Mariah, who was extremely parched, nodded happily at the kind woman.  
  
The old woman's house wasn't far at all, and it was more of a cottage than a house, it had fruit and vegetables growing all around it, and a medium sized well. Mariah followed the woman inside.  
  
The woman boiled a pot of water.  
  
"Oh! I'm sorry ma'am, but I don't drink tea." Mariah said sweetly, trying not to offend the old woman.  
  
"That's all right dear, its not tea, and I promise, you'll like it." She smiled back. Mariah nodded, she was taught to respect your elders. Mariah drew circles on the ground with her foot out of boredom.  
  
'I wonder where Ray and the others are?' she asked herself. Not noticing that the woman was adding all kinds of herbs and various 'flavourings' to it. Therefore, Mariah decided to make conversation.  
  
"So how long have you been here? I've never seen you at the village before."  
  
"I like to keep to myself, little deary. Now have this special drink I made for you." She smiled with a toothless grin. This made Mariah feel slightly sick, but she took the drink anyway. She felt dizzy afterwards. Like everything around her was spinning, and then she felt, regular. She was about to ask what it was, until she heard her name being called from outside.  
  
"You'd better go deary, sounds like your friends are worried.'  
  
Mariah nodded and thanked the old woman for her kindness and ran towards the sound of her friends.  
  
Mariah wandered about until she heard a running coming from behind her, then she heard a..  
  
"RAGH!!!" and with that Ray had tackled her, and made them both fall to the ground. Lee, Gary and Kevin walked up in front of her.  
  
"Wow! It took us ages to find you; you must've found a good hiding place." Ray smiled as her got up and gave her a hand to help her up with.  
  
"Actually, I sorta made a new friend, an old woman actually, she gave me a drink, hey! How about I show you her cottage!" she said while leading the chibi boys towards the place where the cottage was. Mariah stopped and looked stunned.  
  
"W, where did it go? I'm sure it was here!" she said in a confused tone.  
  
"Ah well, just forget it! Let's go to my house, I'll race you there!" Kevin laughed. So they all ran happily to Kevin's house, when they got there they all sat in his backyard, everyone except Lee, had pure orange juice with ice cubes, but Lee had plain ice water.  
  
The sun gleamed down on them as they laid back on the ground, listening to the birds.  
  
"Is hot." Gary panted. (A/N: this isn't an error, Gary has a short vocabulary!)  
  
"You hot Gary? Well then, have some of this!" chibi Kevin laughed while throwing his orange drink at Gary. They all laughed and began to throw their drinks on each other except lee.  
  
"What's wrong lee? Join in with the fun!" laughed chibi Mariah.  
  
"Fun eh? Alright then!" lee grinned while chucking his ice water on Mariah. Everyone laughed, including Mariah. However, eventually she had realised everyone had stopped.  
  
"What's wrong guys?" she asked.  
  
"M, Mariah, your..a boy!" Ray stuttered.  
  
"Ray! Quit kidding about!" she growled, not impressed at his joke.  
  
"I'm serious Mariah, look at yourself!"  
  
Usually, she wouldn't have listened, until she noticed that her voice sounded deeper than usual. So she looked down at her body, she had gotten a little bigger, and her skin wasn't as smooth as usual, not to mention her hair was less fluid and straight, and more spiky and short. She then turned her back on the boys and looked down her pants.  
  
"EEK!!! WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?"  
  
-A-While-Later-  
  
"so you're saying that you felt fine till you drank that drink the woman gave you?" lee asked while looking frantically in his grandfathers old books to find an explanation of what was happening to his future girlfriend, or in this case boyfriend.  
  
"I told you a hundred times, yes!" Mariah said panicky.  
  
Ray was directly in front of Mariah, close enough for possible sparkidge, but Mariah wasn't in the mood, and Ray was just getting a closer look at how she'd turned out.  
  
"Ah man, all Lee did was throw water on you." Ray said aloud, then a thought came into his head, he went into lee's kitchen, then went back into the basement library that lee and Mariah were in. it was all too weird for Kevin and Gary, so they went home.  
  
Ray walked in front of Mariah and threw the cold water on Mariah. This had no effect, except ticking her off.  
  
"RAY?! WHY DID YOU DO THAT FOR?! THIS ISNT THE TIME FOR GAMES!" she screamed.  
  
"Sorry, I thought it'd change you back." Ray grinned sheepishly.  
  
"Aha! I found it!....oh.." lee announced.  
  
"Oh? What do you mean, oh?" Mariah asked frantically.  
  
"It has it all right here, that drink that woman gave you, was actually a potion..a curse."  
  
"A, wha-what?"  
  
"A curse, it turns you into any unlikely thing, its different for every person, and is triggered by cold water."  
  
"So how do I un-trigger it?"  
  
With that, lee walked out the room into the kitchen and poured some of the hot water from the kettle his mum had boiled to make tea, into a large jug and walked back into the library. He approached Mariah and threw the hot water over her.  
  
"Y, you jerk! I'm in pain here and you thought it'd be funny to throw boiling water on me?!" she said, about to clobber him, until she noticed her voice had changed back to normal.  
  
"Heh! Mariah! You're cute again!" ray smiled while kissing her on the cheek causing her to blush, but Lee interrupted the moment.  
  
"Not cured, if dozed with cold water, she'll turn back into a boy; the books say nothing about an antidote."  
  
Mariah's face when from gleaming to frowning at that point. But her best friend Ray always did know how to make her feel better.  
  
"don't worry Mariah, as long as we keep this to ourselves, and not throw cold water on you, I promise you'll be fine!" he said while giving her another peck on the cheek.  
  
'Oh please, could you be anymore obvious?' lee whispered so that only Ray could hear.  
  
A/N: this was just to explain what happened to Mariah, more romance awaits! :P The next chapter is about Ray's change, afterwards it'll be Kai's turn, and then things get interesting. Hope ya'll liked it 


	2. Rays Change!

Author's note: Gah! Good reviews! Wa-hoo! Im glad you guys liked it! Mwahahahahahaha! Believe me it gets better! Now im not one for spoilers but lets just say it has a guest appearance from Shippu..in fact once I introduce him, he'll be a regular cast member!  
  
Ray was packing his bags to go home so he wouldn't have to do it later, in 2 days, he would see Mariah. He was in America with the other breakers for Max's birthday. However, his mind was on other things.  
  
'I wonder if she thinks of me.' he wandered to himself. Ever since he left the White Tigers, they had been distant. The only thing he retained from Mariah was the trust. Even though he left the white tigers, she had the chance to blab his secret to the world, but instead she kept it.  
  
"Was it because I kept your secret, or did you care about me?" he asked himself.  
  
(Ray's past):  
  
'Poor Mariah. That hose trick Kevin played on her, didn't amuse her. She had to walk around the village as a boy to find hot water. Luckily, she looks a lot different when she's turned into a he, so nobody recognised her.' He thought to himself as he took a walk in the forest.  
  
"I'll need to get her an extra best present for her birthday!" he smiled.  
  
Ray wasn't the only one fond of Mariah, Ray's parents were set on them getting married one day, but whenever they brought it up Ray would just ignore them. It's true he REALLY liked her, but he wasn't ready for marriage talk. He wasn't even sure if she liked him back yet. Rays thoughts were interrupted.  
  
"Hello young man." Said a sweet old woman.  
  
"Oh, Urm, hello."  
  
"So what's your name sonny?"  
  
"Ray, ma'am."  
  
"Taking a walk to clear your thoughts young man?"  
  
"Something like that."  
  
"Why don't you come inside my house for some soup, it'll refresh you."  
  
Ray thought for a moment, and then he smiled, nodded, and followed her to her house. (Poor white tigers! So trusting!)  
  
-Mariah's-POV-  
  
Girl Mariah walked around the village. She had to run all the way home to find hot water to turn her back.  
  
"Hey Mariah, back to normal I see." Lee called from his porch. Mariah turned with a frown. Kevin's joke had her sweating buckets.  
  
"So where is everyone?" she asked while approaching him.  
  
"well, Gary's taking cooking lessons from his mum, Kevin's petrified of you so he's hiding in his room, and Ray decided to take a walk in the forest." He informed.  
  
"Alone?! Are you forgetting what happened to me when I was alone in the forest?" she squealed. Lee's eyes widened as he realised what Mariah had just said. Therefore, they both took off to the forest, surly if this old woman was the one who curses handsome boys and pretty girls, Ray was a target no doubt.  
  
-Rays-POV-  
  
"Well young man, do you like this special homemade soup I made? It truly is, one of a kind." She smiled.  
  
"Oh yes! It's delicious! But I think I'm getting a bit of a headache.I wish I knew why, I felt fine before."  
  
"Don't worry young man, it'll pass."  
  
"How do you know?" he asked in a curious tone.  
  
"Because, when dozed with my potion, it always gives the person a headache." She cackled. Ray immediately stopped sipping the soup, he then slapped his head as he realised what Mariah had said about meeting an old woman, and drinking her homemade drink, only this time, Ray was dozed with soup. Ray then did a manly thing, he ran out the cottage screaming at the top of his lungs.very heroic! (A/N: bear in mind, ray's only about 5-7yrs old, his muscles are pea sized about now!)  
  
Mariah and Lee had been searching in the forest for Ray for sometime now, until they heard a screaming sound, which sounded like Ray. Before they had a chance to react, they both were knocked over by a hysterical Ray. Mariah quickly recovered from initial shock; she jumped up and lifted lee and ray up from the ground.  
  
"Ray! Please tell me you didn't drink anything!" Mariah emphasised the 'please'. Ray looked at the ground.  
  
"I, I.had some soup." He said in an ashamed tone.  
  
'How could he forget such a thing?!' lee and Mariah both thought as they sweat dropped.  
  
All three of them walked into the white tiger village, and went inside Lee's house again. It was sort of their headquarters or something.  
  
Lee got a jug of cold water and held it above Rays head.  
  
"Lee, what are you doing?" he asked frantically.  
  
"Sorry dude, but it's the only way to find out what you're cursed with." Lee poured the cold water over him.  
  
Lee and Mariah's eyes widened as they saw what Ray was turning into. Lee was trying his hardest not to burst into laughter, while Mariah had fallen in love with what he had turned into.  
  
"W, what a cute little kitty!" she gleamed.  
  
The ray cat turned his head side ways to look at her in confusion. Mariah picked him up and snuggled him close. And if it was possible, the Ray cat began to blush and purr at her.  
  
"Remember Mariah, that's Ray not a regular cat." Lee reminded.  
  
"But, he's so cute!" she smiled as she cradled him in her arms.  
  
Which was understandable, Ray really was a cute little cat! He was completely black and had a spiky fringe. Yet, his hair was still in a long ponytail, and he still wore his ying-yang headband.  
  
Lee couldn't stand Mariah giving 'kitty Ray' so much attention, so he walked out the room with the jug to go get some hot water. Mariah didn't notice, she was too busy showering Ray with affection, and Ray loved every minute of it.  
  
'She's so cute! Maybe this cat-thing isn't so bad after all!' he thought.  
  
Yet again, Lee interrupted their little moment by pouring boiling water over him. This caused him to meow from shock due to the heat. With that, he turned back into 'boy Ray'.  
  
"Well, now we know what you turn into, and in this case, we won't be doing it again!"  
  
On-The-Way-Home  
  
It was getting late so Ray walked Mariah home.  
  
"Are you alright Ray?" Mariah asked concerned. Ray looked in Mariah's eyes to see tears welling up in them. He reached his hand forwards and wiped them away.  
  
"I'm alright Mariah, but why are you crying?"  
  
"I should have been there, but I was too late, and now you're cursed, like me." She said glumly.  
  
"Honestly, the only thing that had me worried was the old woman, MAJOR freaky! But I don't call being held by you a curse!" he grinned. Mariah blushed a deep pink.  
  
'Just like Ray!' she thought. 'He always knows how to turn a bad situation around.'  
  
Ray stood on Mariah's doorstep as they said goodnight, but not before giving her a goodnight kiss. Mariah then promised that she would keep his secret if he promised to always keep hers. And with that, the pledge was made.  
  
(End Rays Past):  
  
"And she did keep my promise, just like I kept hers." He smiled, just as Kai walked in the hotel room they were sharing.  
  
"Hey Kai! You know, I don't think I can recall where it was you said you were going after Max's birthdays over." He said abruptly in attempt to purge his thoughts of Mariah.  
  
"That's because I never told you in the first place." He sighed as he lay back on his bed.  
  
"I'm sorry Kai, I wasn't thinking. What with Voltaire being charged, you don't have anybody..hey! Why don't you come back to the village with me? I know you'll feel uncomfortable, but you can stay there for a few days at least." he suggested. Kai laid in silence, he wanted to go with Ray, but he didn't want to appear weak or desperate in some way. Therefore, Ray took his silence as a yes.  
  
"Great! Well in that case, I'll go ask Mr.Dickenson to get you a plane ticket to Asia, but make sure your bags are packed in 2 days!" Ray ran out the hotel room to look for Mr.Dickenson, leaving a confused, yet pleased Kai.  
  
"Asia, eh?" he muttered. His attention then drew to the picture on the draws beside Ray's bed. Kai picked it up and examined it closely. It was a picture of Ray and The White Tigers at the Russian tournament. Without realising it his sight was drawn To Mariah. She was smiling sweetly with her eyes closed. She always looked pretty when she smiled. Kai felt his heart beat fast, just like when he met her for the first time in Asia, and Russia. She had that effect on him which made him say the most stupid things, like 'are you here to talk or beyblade?' and then he took her prized Galux away from her. He stopped when he realised what he was doing and put the picture on the draws upside down to prevent him from looking.  
  
"Asia, that means.she'll be there."  
  
Authors Note: dun, dun, DUN! Dramatic pause :P !!!!  
  
Well, next chappie, its Kai's turn! Well kai's will take 2-3 chaptors for im to change, but its worth it :D Mwahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!...what shall happen?  
  
And thanks to because they've given me an idea for another story (Which I've finished typing the 1st chapter, but I won't put it up till ive finished updating ALL my stories)  
  
C-O-M-I-N-G S-O-O-N T-O A F-A-N-F-I-C N-E-A-R Y-O-U  
  
'Greener on the other side'  
  
The guys talk about how easy it must be for the girls and vice versa, but little do they realise that they are going to find out what each others lives are REALLY like!  
  
Yes, I'm ebil! 


	3. Kai's In Da Village!

Authors Note: Well, this is a chappie, dedicated to getting Kai into the village, so there'll be no changing for him.....YET!  
  
"Wow guys! Thanks for staying for my birthday! I had a blast!" Max smiled.  
  
"Forget it Max, we're glad to be here, right Kai" ray asked.  
  
"Hm, sure. Shouldn't we be heading to the airport now?"  
  
"Oh right! I completely forgot! We have an hour to get there, but I guess we should leave now then!" ray grinned out of embarrassment, all night, seeing Mariah was all he could think about, and he forgot.  
  
-On-The-Plane-  
  
"Not nervous, are you Kai?" ray asked.  
  
"Hm? why would I be nervous?" he asked in an unimpressed tone.  
  
"Well I hate to bring up the past, but you DID steal their bits." Ray replied, not thinking.  
  
"Well then don't bring it up!" Kai snapped. He hated it when people would bring up that. Nevertheless, it did make him wonder. He wasn't bothered about what Lee, Gary or Kevin thought, but what about Mariah? Surely she would either yell at him, or even worse, she could pretend he did not exist. Yet again, he noticed how pathetic he must have sounded. Who cares if she ignored him? At least she would not bother him, which was just fine with him! 'Thank god I only have to stay there for a couple of days!' he smiled inwardly.  
  
Ray looked at Kai's angered expression.  
  
'Man, I shouldn't have brought that up; this is gonna be one hell of a long flight! Thank goodness he'll only be there for a couple of days!' he thought.  
  
-After-Plane-Land-  
  
The four White Tigers sat on the highway that was about 10minutes from the village. The road was completely silent, which was nothing new. Nobody really knew about the village so everything was pretty much, empty. The White Tigers were waiting for Ray to arrive, knowing that he would have to get there by coach after he leaves the plane. Little did they know he was arriving with another guest.  
  
"Hey, HEY! Look! I see the coach!" Kevin yelled as he saw a vehicle in the distance surrounded by dust due to the mud road.  
  
Much to everyone's eagerness to see Ray, the coach approached and stopped down the road from them, the White Tigers ran towards it as Ray and Kai got off it. The Tigers then were getting closer to Ray, but not without noticing Kai was with him, all except Mariah that was. The second she saw Ray, that was all her eyes could focus on. Ray saw her approaching him and he dropped his luggage, ready to hug the girl of his dreams. Mariah who had run in front of the others was aiming for Ray and with a...  
  
:::: GLOMP:::  
  
She got Ray in a major hug, which he definitely loved! The others had eventually caught up and smiled at the sight of the young bladders being so close, except Lee of course. He still hated how close they got, but his crush he had on Mariah had decreased slightly, she cared too much about Ray.  
  
Mariah eventually pulled back from him and stepped aside to let the other Tigers greet him. But only when she did, she noticed the cool blue haired blader behind him.  
  
"K, Kai? What?" Mariah stuttered.  
  
Ray turned around and smiled at the face she was making at Kai, and decided to give her an explanation.  
  
"What with everything going on, Kai's going to be living with me for a while....like a holiday." He informed.  
  
Mariah hummed in acknowledgement and walked directly in front of Kai. Kai was shocked at first, but he knew what she was going to do, most likely, she was going to slap him for being there. Instead, she did something he did NOT suspect. She hugged him. Kai was wide eyed by now. 'What was she doing' but without realising it he too put his arms around her and hugged her back, not knowing why. The White Tigers and Ray sent her 'what the hell are you doing?' looks.  
  
Mariah pulled away from Kai.  
  
"It's nice to see you again Kai, it's been a long time. I hope you enjoy staying in our village." She smiled sweetly. Kai felt his complexion turn crimson at her actions. He was all ready with insults and scowling and she had to destroy it all. Lee walked up to Kai and held out his hand.  
  
"Lets leave the past where it belongs, friend." he smiled while holding out his hand for Kai to shake, which he did. So they all walked into the village.  
  
It was in the afternoon when they got to the village. Kai took in his surroundings. The small village, the houses were larger than he expected. (If you've seen Tenchi, then think of his house. Nice, ne?)  
  
At one point Kai thought, he had strolled into a ghost town and he looked about trying to spot someone. Mariah saw him looking around confused; she knew what he was thinking so she decided to answer the question scrolling through his mind.  
  
"You won't spot anybody out here now, Kai. It's 4:00. Most people have there tea at the same time...sort of like tradition I guess."  
  
Kai looked at her as they wandered through the village. 'How did she know what I was thinking?'  
  
"Well, Mariah has a good point, I'd better get home now too, I'm starving!" Lee grinned.  
  
At the mention of food, Gary drooled, and Kevin's stomach made a tiny rumbling noise which made them all, minus Kai, laugh.  
  
"Yeah, my mums making a big tea for Kai, seen as though he's a guest, we'd better get there before it gets cold, right Kai.  
  
"Dido! Well, how about we meet with each other at, say....five?" Mariah asked.  
  
"Right, see later guys!" ray smiled as he walked led Kai to his house; he and Mariah were neighbours so she walked with them. She then flashed them both a smile and a wink and went inside her house. Kai was dumbstruck and Ray was blushing happily, as he went in his house.  
  
"RAY! Sweetie! Give your mommy a BIG hug!" cried his mother as she hugged him tighter while crying.  
  
"I've missed my baby boy!" she wailed. Ray felt extremely embarrassed. How could she embarrass him in front of his cold teammate. Ray's mum let go then she noticed Kai standing in the doorway and, gave him a death hug too.  
  
"OH MY! You must be Kai! Rays told me all about you! You'll be like Ray's brother!!!" she gleamed. Ray's mum was quite peculiar, she was always happy and in all her life, she has only ever cried out of happiness. She let go of Kai. 'Jay!' she called out. 'Who's that?' Kai thought. And in walked a brown haired Ray look-alike. He wore the same sort of outfit as Ray, but instead of ying-yang signs, he had a sun signs on his clothes and on his blue headband.  
  
"Kai, this is my twin bro, Jaime, Jay for short!" he smiled as he gave his brother a manly hug.  
  
"Jay dear, would you take Kai's things to the spare bedroom? And be quick because your tea's ready."  
  
-At the dinner table-  
  
They all sat on a large wooden table. Ray's mother had made all sorts, there was soup, pasta, bread rolls and cherry pie for desert, all of it was homemade. Kai noticed that there was an empty chair. Where was Ray's dad? Then a horrible thought crossed his mind. 'What if Ray's dad was...'  
  
"Hey mom, dad not back from work I see?" ray said while shovelling pasta in his mouth. Kai gave a sigh of relief and then got a bread roll to have with his soup.  
  
After-The-Meal.  
  
"Mom, I'm going to show Kai around with the others now, we'll be back in a few hours, bye!" ray called while slipping his shoes on and walking outside.  
  
Kai looked at the outside of Mariah's house and her garden. At the back, there were swings and a few benches, and one of them was a swing bench instead of a chair. Ray saw Kai looking at the garden surrounded by colourful plants and fruit trees.  
  
"She only has her mum...," he said glumly. Kai looked at Ray suddenly, a little startled by him just bring that up all of a sudden.  
  
"What does that mean?" Kai asked, not sure of what Ray was saying.  
  
"I saw you looking at the garden and stuff, Mariah only lives with her mum, so they could decorate it whatever way they wanted. Kai nodded to show he understood, but there was still a lingering question.  
  
"How? How did he...."  
  
"He had a cancerous lung; he died just a day before Mariah's birthday, which was the saddest day of her life." He said caringly as he walked up to the front door and knocked.  
  
A beautiful woman opened the door, she was like a life sized Barbie, her hair was a whitish-yellow blonde-haired woman. In addition, her eyes were a golden yellow. 'Now I can see where she gets her looks' Kai thought before mentally whacking himself. How could he think such a thing?  
  
"Oh Ray! Mariah told me you were back!" she said while giving him a quick hug. Then she turned to Kai.  
  
"And Mariah said you brought a friend as well, Kai isn't it? Mariah's been telling me about you!" she smiled. Kai felt his cheeks get warmer.  
  
"Mariah's on the phone upstairs talking to an Emily girl. Come inside and sit down!" she smiled sweetly as she stepped aside to let the two boys in. Kai and Ray sat down on the comfortable chairs; they were a soft cream colour.  
  
Kai looked around the room to see photographs on the walls; he looked at one, which was a man with long black hair and red eyes. He soon figured that it was her dad. (A/N: lol! I based him on final fantasy's Vincent.) Mariah then walked in the room.  
  
"My mum told me you guys were here, well come on then! Lee is most likely waiting.  
  
They were walking through the village again, only this time there were people, mainly old people either working or sitting with there grandchildren, and little boys on the grass playing beyblade, and running around playing planes. Where as the little girls were sitting together playing dolls. This made Kai think of Mariah more, she was raised in a place like this, yet she could blade, and she was tough. The one thing about the girls in the village was that their hair all rather looked the same. Mariah's was a unique style though. So did the boys for that matter, haven't they ever heard of haircuts.  
  
"I'm surprised you haven't asked about the hair thing yet." Ray smiled. Kai looked wide-eyed at ray. 'Are they psychic or something?'  
  
"What about it?" he replied casually.  
  
"Girls have long hair as a symbol of marriage. If a girl DOESN'T have long hair, then they cant marry a member of the village, I'm not to clear why, I think its to do with respect to the village and honour, theres a leagend of a woman who started a mutany with a few other woman in the village, and they cut their hair to symbolise freedom. or something like that...."  
  
They walked down the street to see Lee sitting on the hedge of his house.  
  
"Where are Kevin and Gary?" Ray asked.  
  
"Kevin got himself grounded for answering back to his mother, and Gary ate too much and fell asleep. It's just us four."  
  
Lee said while jumping down.  
  
Kai had seen most of the village, but Mariah decided to take Kai to her favourite place. It was on top of a huge hill. It not only looked over the village, but much, much further than that. It even over looked the school that they attended, and the school that Kai would be attending.  
  
They all sat they are and looked down; it was a perfect place to just sit and relax. Kai was overwhelmed at how big the forest was, for a moment, he thought it was just his eyes, but then he realised that there was something in the centre of the forest. Then strangely, it disappeared. Did he imagine it? Once again, Mariah answered his thoughts.  
  
"Kai, if you ever see anything in the forest, or anyone, PLEASE, leave immediately, it's a dangerous place, and you'll regret going in there."  
  
Kai looked into Mariah's eyes to see worry forming in them. She was generally worried for him. This made his heart warm slightly. Mariah could tell that Kai was going to ask why, but she could not tell him her shame. So she smiled at him and decided it was late.  
  
"We should head back now." She said while dusting herself off.  
  
-Kai's-New-Room-  
  
It had to be said, Kai actually liked this bed of his. It was warm and comfortable. However, he could not quite drift to sleep yet. His mind wandered into the concern Mariah had in her eyes, what was so dangerous in the forest that would make her worry so much? Kai could not stop thinking about it, so he decided to check it out himself. He could take care of himself after all; little did he know he had to defend himself against an old woman.  
  
Authors Note:  
  
DON'T DO IT KAI!!! TURN BACK!!!  
  
Lol! I don't think he heard me! :P meh! Cant say I didn't warn him! R&R PPL! 


	4. Maybe it's just me?

A/N: hmmm…..been a while, eh? I've been doing this thing where I don't leave things half finish. And I will do this even if my regular readers are gone. But damn, Kai's change was supposed to be a surprised….was it too obvious? M'kay.

Kai wandered through the forest, not sure of what he was doing, or why he was there. It almost felt as though something was pulling him in that direction.

'What am I doing here?' he thought as he looked up at the giant full moon. Had it not been there, he probably wouldn't have even been able to see his way through the Forrest. As he was distracted his arm scrapped along a sharp piece of bark from a tree he was walking close to.

He seethed at the sudden pain in his arm, then shrugged it off as a scrape and continued walking.

'This is pathetic. What did I think I could accomplish here?' he suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked up at the full moon as the moon was becoming covered with clouds, making the Forrest around him grow darker. 'It was a mistake to come to this village, I should go back home.' He thought. Despite him telling himself this in his head, he really didn't want to go. The atmosphere was so relaxed at the White Tiger village, sure their customs made no sense, but being an outsider meant he didn't have to be involved init himself.

He sighed as he concluded that he would think it over for a couple of days.

"I still haven't made it up to her…Mariah." He said aloud as he turned towards the exit of the Forrest, only to come face to face with an old woman.

"My, what's a handsome young man like you doing alone in the middle of the Forrest at night?" she immediately asked while flashing a creepy grin.

Kai quickly composed himself after the shock of her seemingly, appearing from nowhere.

"Its late young man, but you don't look like a member of the White Tiger village.

"I'm not, I'm just walking." He replied as he turned to head back in the direction he had come in.

"What deary, aren't you hungry? I can make you a drink? Or some soup perhaps?" she said whilst trying to keep up with him, but Kai didn't reply.

"Your arm dear, it seems to be cut? Let me at least take care of it so I'm not up all night worrying about you." She improvised whilst hastily moving in front of him to block the way. Kai just looked down at her, beginning to get mad at this random old woman who was trying to stalk him.

"This is quite an exotic Forrest you know, you should be more careful, let me take care of that arm, you wouldn't want your girlfriend to get worried now, would you? Why don't you come inside?" she said whilst pointing to a cottage which Kai was certain wasn't there before, perhaps if he wasn't so concerned about the cottage that appeared out of nowhere, he might have thought to question her girlfriend remark.

Kai turned and looked at her in suspicion as Mariah's words filled his head.

'Kai, if you ever see anything in the forest, or anyone, PLEASE, leave immediately, it's a dangerous place, and you'll regret going in there.'

'She couldn't have possibly meant this old woman? She's harmless, what could she possibly do? It wasn't as if her house was made of gingerbread and she was offering him all the food he could eat.' He thought to himself, still staring.

"Come on deary, it wont take a second, then you can go on your way." She smiled whilst walking towards her cottage door and leaving it open for Kai to follow. He frustratingly sighed and followed.

He noted how plain the house looked, and followed the woman who signaled him to enter the kitchen. He sat down at the table whilst she grabbed a cloth and run some water over and wiped Kai's arm.

'Yeah, cause I couldn't have wiped my arm back at Ray's' he said frustratingly at himself as he realized this was a complete waste of his time.

"Thanks." He said in emotionless tone.

She smiled and turned around and began to collect various herbs and ingredients and grabbing a pot.

"I'm not here to eat." He said whilst standing up, signaling that he was planning to leave."

"Oh no Hun, it's an old remedy to help detox your system to prevent infection." She replied somewhat unconvincingly. 'Damn, this one's smarter than the other naïve villagers.'

Kai was skeptical, he had never heard of this kind of thing. But then again he had never heard of growing your hair to symbolize marriage. Perhaps it was just their custom he sighed as he sat back down.

"So if you are not from the village, then why are you here dear?" she asked, trying to distract him of the 'remedy' she was concocting.

Kai pretended to be thinking of something else, he was smart enough to know that when an elderly person started to ask questions, it was only an excuse to start reminiscing about 'the old days'. The woman glared with her back facing him. 'You'll get what's coming to you.' She thought as a grin widened across her face.

"So, this girlfriend of yours, she must be beautiful." She said whilst stirring the boiling mixture.

"What makes you think I have a girlfriend?" he replied whilst being reminded of how she had mentioned that earlier.

"Well you…said a girls name….Mariah, wasn't it?" she mentally cursed him for causing her to keep improvising.

Kai ignored her words and dwelled on the possibility of him and Mariah becoming an item, of course it quickly shrugged it off and began looking for excuses. 'Making this old woman was right? Maybe I caught something through my wound?' he unconvincingly told himself.

"Here, it's finished." She smiled as she handed the drink to him.

"Hm. Thanks." He replied without even looking at her. He just wanted out as soon as possible so he gulped the whole thing in one go, not even allowing enough of it to touch his tongue to taste it.

"Its late, I should probably head back." He said while heading towards the door.

"Oh yes deary, tell that pink haired girl that I said hello." She smiled as she closed the door behind him.

Kai walked a few steps before he realized that he had never mentioned the color of Mariah's hair, and with that he turned around and to his disbelieve the cottage was no longer there.

Mariah's voice rung in his ears as he remembered her warning yet again. But he was fine wasn't he? She hadn't hurt him or anything.

'I should just forget this whole thing ever happened.' He thought as he headed back to Ray's house.

-Sometime later-

Kai approached Rays house to find the lights lit up in every room, he wasn't wearing a watch so he was unaware that he had been gone an hour or so.

As he entered the house he looked in the living room to see Ray, his mum and Jay along with Mariah and her mum all panicking.

"What if he was kidnapped!?" Ray panicked whilst pacing back and forth.

"Must've been ambushed to take that guy though." Jay continued.

"I'm sure he's fine, but does your friend sleepwalk?" Mariah's mum tried to reassure.

"Ray….what if….the woman…." Mariah began.

"What woman?" rays mum retorted.

Upon closer examination, Kai noticed saw tears welled up in Mariah's eyes.

'The old woman….did she do something to me….' He wondered as he walking into the room. Everyone starred in shock, followed by relief, except Mariah who looked pissed.

"Kai! Where have you been! We were worried sick!" she stood and glared at him through welled up eyes.

Kai didn't expect anyone to be worried, when he snuck out everyone was asleep anyways. Ray stood in front of Mariah.

"We were just worried is all, Kai. You just wandered off without telling anyone, so where were you?"

"I was wandered around the Forrest is all." He looked away. Mariah's eyes widened as she starred back at an equally surprised Ray.

"Well kais fine, I'm gonna hit the sack." Yawned jay as he headed up to bed.

"Yes dear, me too." Rays mum began, but stopped in front of Kai. "We're glad you're safe Kai, but next time if you're going to wander off in the middle of the night, could you at least leave a note?" she smiled as she too headed up to bed.

"Mariah, we should head back home too, it's late." Her mum signaled as she smiled at Kai before stopping at the entrance.

"Um mum, could you go ahead…..I'll catch up soon, I promise."

"Okay dear, but be quick." She replied while walking out the door.

Now that everyone had left the three alone, thins were beginning to feel awkward.

"….whatever." muttered Kai as he headed towards the stairs, anticipating being told off like a child.

"Kai wait." Mariah pleaded as she ran to catch up with him before he went up the stairs.

"Please Kai….did anything happen while you were in the Forrest?...did you meet anyone?...did you drink anything?" she begun. Kai's eyes widened at her summing up what had happened to him, but before he could ask her why, she had noticed his arm.

"Kai, I'm pretty sure that scrape wasn't there before. Did something happen? Was there a fight?" she continued, jumping to conclusions before even allowing him to reply.

He was tempted to tell her what had happened to her this night, and the odd woman and her disappearing cottage, as she seemed to know something he didn't. But seeing the worry in her eyes, for some reason he couldn't.

"I just scraped it, nothing happened Mariah." He tried to say reassuringly as he stretched and headed upstairs.

Ray walked behind Mariah and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Well it seems like he's fine. Don't worry anymore now Mariah. We can keep an eye on him during the day, and I doubt he'll pull a stunt like this again after everyone was so worried." He smiled. "You look so tired, why don't you go home and rest and we'll hang out tomorrow?"

"Okay Ray, I guess your right." She sighed.

-------

Kai lay awake once again. Surely something hadn't happened to him, he didn't feel any different. What could this old woman have possibly done?

'But Mariah looked so worried…..should I be worried too?...she really cared….' He thought.

"I'm fine, nothing happened." He concluded, and finally went to sleep.

A/N: ooooooooh, will Kai change into something ishy? Will the old woman ever have a heart attack and die? Will Kai and Mariah sleep together after a night of booze? Will jay ever say anything worthwhile? Tune in next time fir, 'We're screwed!' ;)


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